Quote:
Originally Posted by bdcanetti
Yes I do realize some of this is to be expected and I suppose I'm just venting and I realize it could be worse. Just aggravated that a vehicle with an original sticker price of $74,000 would use parts with better gaskets and seals as in the mechatronic sleeve which is an idiotic design IMO to begin with. The comfort access design is beyond horrible. All the horror stories of handles getting water in them and shorting out causing battery drains. Also incredibly stupid engineering. But my biggest pet peeve so far is the radiator fan. Cheaply made plastic that becomes brittle and breaks and as in my case, instead of unbolting the plastic fan and replacing with a $50 new part, they make it so you have to buy the entire $650 unit. Compete BS money grab design. And just wait until you have to change the oil thermostat gasket on the 4.8 or the alternator bracket gasket AKA "gasket to nowhere" on the 3.0. Horribly made gasket in a nearly impossible to reach spot. Anyway...just expect more from the famous "German Engineering".
|
Just to address some of your points from someone that has had a LOOONG list of repairs himself.
To the original sticker price, a good amount of that money is someone willing to pay to buy into the brand of BMW. I look around where I live, and there are so many BMWs on the road that it's obviously a price that the market is willing to bear. I wouldn't equate the price with quality of parts. My buddy has a Ferrari that is in the shop more than my BMW. Plastic parts are everywhere nowadays. Cheaper to make and lessen the weight to get better gas mileage. Same reason that you have high end retailers like Gucci selling a piece of clothes for $1000 when you can get the piece of clothes at the Gap for $29. Do you think that the high end clothes will be 100x better?
As to the second part of your argument, I agree in part. BMW obviously has a business model to charge a premium for their parts to make high margin on them. That being said, third party parts aren't all that much cheaper either. This is part of the price you pay by buying a luxury brand. Companies will charge what the market will bear. They're also selling lesser quantity of them compared to parts that they would make for a Jeep or something, so that increases their price to us.